Day One

During the two major holidays, I spend my time in Wichita with my brothers, Dave and Scott. Whenever I go somewhere with Dave, we invariably run into one of his former students or players or multiples of them. What a blessing that comes from the profession the three of us share. It's good for me to remember when we have to deal with the frustrations that sometimes pop up in our profession. This is from August 12, 2006 and it's about one of the blessings from my classroom at Westbury Christian School.

Day One is in the books: only one-hundred-seventy-nine to go. You might wonder why we have the first day of school at Westbury Christian on a Friday. There is a logical explanation. The first day inevitably includes a myriad of schedule changes for our middle and high school students so Monday, we will have a fresh start. I'm teaching three sophomore Bible classes (with several juniors and seniors sprinkled in) and two sections of eighth grade Bible. My curriculum in tenth grade is Matthew-Mark-Luke-John while our eighth graders spend all thirty-six weeks on the gospel of Luke. I'm excited- this looks to be a wonderful year. At our Open House held several evenings before Day One, I met many parents of new students and universally, they were thrilled about allowing us to work with their children. That partnership is so vital if education is going to be successful. By May, some of these faces that I can't put a name with yet will be some of the favorite kids I have ever taught and will have a life-changing impact on me as their instructor. On Monday, we hit the ground running by memorizing Jacob's Sons (and the accompanying song to better learn it by.) With many of our kids coming from overseas, I have to lay some very basic groundwork and explain the link between the Old and New Testaments. It will be a fun ride although there will be some bumps along the way. Lord willing, we will make inroads with some young people and help them make the greatest decision of their lives, the choice to become a Christian.

I had a visitor yesterday when school dismissed. It was Ariana. In both ninth and tenth grades, she was a student in my Bible classes. In three days, her family will be moving to Canada, the result of a wonderful promotion her father received. It's tough- she has lived her entire life in Houston but she'll make it. She wanted me to sign a sweatshirt for her and she wanted to tell me good-bye. When she hugged me, her hair was wet. Ariana had just come from our church building where Steve Lehman, our youth minister, had baptized her into Jesus Christ. It was the best news of a good day. It didn't happen all at once. An eighty-five year old widow from our congregation has brought her to worship services for several years and Ariana was listening. She sat in the second row in my Bible classes for the past two years and she was listening. The scriptures speak of the seed taking time to grow but first, it has to be planted. That's my job and Lord willing, there will be more Arianas in Room 258 this year. I pray, like Ariana, they will be listening.


Applicable quote of the day:
"Too often we give our children answers to remember rather than problems to solve."
Roger Lewin

God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1
www.hawleybooks.com
E-mail me at steve@hawleybooks.com